The present invention relates to apparatuses for the application of revenue tax stamps to cigarettes and, more particularly, to a machine that stamps the individual cigarette packages without having to remove them from the carton and which repacks the cigarette cartons back into cardboard cases when finished.
Under the laws of all states, each package of cigarettes must contain a tax stamp before it can legally be sold. Since almost every state has a different tax rate, stamping must take place at the wholesale level of distribution. Current procedures require that the wholesaler in each state buys cigarettes from the manufacturer, then must open each carton, apply a tax stamp to each pack and then reseal the cartons and repack them into a cardboard case before passing it to the retail level for sale.
The prior art includes several machines that automatically open and stamp individual cigarette packs and reseal the carton. Unfortunately, such machines are limited to stamping standard cigarette cartons consisting of two rows of five packs of approximately 17/8 inches by 11 inches, with a height (commonly measured in meters) of 100 millimeters. However, primarily for marketing purposes, manufacturers have reintroduced cigarettes with many sizes and having many different arrangements in cartons that cannot be stamped with existing machines. For instance, manufacturers have introduced cartons having only one row of ten packs, which are 23/4 inches wide by 9 inches long, as well as the traditional two by five pack cartons with cigarettes up to the 120 millimeters in height.
Since no machine which can stamp odd sizes is available, wholesalers have had to stamp cigarette packages contained in such cartons manually--a slow and expensive process. In fact, tobacco manufacturers have found it necessary to pay wholesalers substantial sums of money just to apply tax stamps to such non-standard sized and arranged cartons.
The most pertinent prior art in this area include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,101,362 by Baker et al.; 3,813,268 by Kerwin; 3,513,616 by Davis; 3,306,807 by Schclotthauer; 3,121,300 by Rossi and 3,025,211 by Winn. With the exception of the Baker and Davis patents, none of the aforereferenced patented apparatuses are adjustable to accommodate various sizes and arrangements of cigarettes. The Davis apparatus is variable only for certain specified sizes of cigarette cartons such as cartons for regular, king or imperial cigarettes. The Baker apparatus dicloses a machine and a method for applying transfers which accommodates various cigarette package sizes but requires that their cartons be placed on the side for passage through the machine. The Baker apparatus has manual stops which measures the size of the carton before opening it at the stamping stations.
Contrary to the above prior apparatuses, the instant invention does not require that the cartons be placed on the sides and automatically adjusts by means of photoelectric cells to any size and arrangement of cigarette cartons. In addition to being infinitely adjustable, the instant apparatus also repacks the cigarette cartons back into the case once stamping is completed, an accomplishment which no prior machine can claim.